“Who are you for the previous Grand Duke to say such a thing? You must be mistaken.”
Selina laughed coldly in front of her.
Renbird's honor.
It was not something to say to a maid, who was not even a knight. Even though she was now the head maid, when she came in, she must have started from the bottom as a maid. Even if she was from a noble family, there was nothing special about her.
“What, do you dare to disregard the trust and expectations that His Excellency has given me? How dare you, an ignorant woman who is only warming the bed!”
“Though you're just a maid, too?”
Selina laughed and sneered. It was funny to argue about who was better, but if they were going to argue about who was even a little closer, wasn’t it the one who shared the same bed?
“Or did you sleep with the previous Duke?”
“What, what, what—!”
Mrs. Janet stuttered with a fainting look.
“How, how dare, the former Duke’s honor..!”
Seeing as she reacted that way when she asked if she slept with him, it meant they weren't even close enough to share a bed.
Selina snorted at her in exasperation.
While it was hard for her to reason about what happened with Irell, she knew why this person was so crazy about Renbird's honor.
“The poor woman he just met by chance is dying, so try living while working, isn’t that what you were talking about?”
“I-if it was me, even the position of the head maid can be entrusted to me…”
“Did you think that was a special position for you? Everyone gets a promotion if they do a good job. If you were risking your life like you are now, people would have made your work harder because you are doing well!”
“I, I am, special…”
Selina's onslaught drove Mrs. Janet out of her mind. Still, she didn't feel sorry for her. How many people have suffered because of this person's misunderstanding?
“Why is a man with a wife and a child giving you special treatment? You were mistaken because you were alone. Are you just mistaken? A person died because of you.”
“N, no, I—”
"Didn't you put a knife in her hand yourself?”
“N, no! That's not me…! Hah!”
Mrs. Janet, who was shouting nonsense, put her hands over her mouth though the words she had already left out did not disappear.
“…You said it didn’t you?”
The only eyewitness to the incident. It was Mrs. Janet who knew the whole story.
“N, no. No… Aahh!”
Mrs. Janet, who had fallen for Selina’s provocation and had spoken the truth out of her mouth, tried to escape in haste. However, as soon as she turned around, the path was guarded by Kalcion, who she thought had entered the meeting. He was already back when the scuffle started.
Kalcion looked down at her with frosty eyes.
From the look in his eyes, Mrs. Janet's body trembled, convinced that he had heard her every conversation. There was no warmth in his eyes toward Mrs. Janet, who was unable to stand still and sat down.
She began to collapse and crumble.
Renbird’s honor, the previous Duke’s request, and the special treatment she believed were for her… everything was gone. There was nothing left. It was difficult for a person who had become void even to maintain their form.
“I'll have to listen to your story, Mrs. Janet.”
Mrs. Janet, who had been holding on to Kalcion's words, lowered her head. She couldn't tell a lie under those eyes that were the same as those of the previous Duke.
“I am…”
Mrs. Janet’s story began.
* * *
It was right.
She couldn't stand it, so she called her husband to return to his parent’s home. When her husband came, she could really be beaten to death this time. Even when she asked to save her, he said that even if she died, she would die next to her husband.
Janet escaped with her bare body.
Her money, which she had little from the beginning, quickly ran out. Even if she sold everything she was wearing, she still had nothing to live on.
Thinking she would starve and die, she was then caught by her husband, who followed her. Either starve to death or be beaten to death. In that desperate moment, Janet, who pushed her husband and ran away, was almost trampled by Duke Renbird’s horse, which was running towards her.
To her, who had sat down in surprise, Duke Renbird personally held out his hand to lift her up and asked if she was okay.
It was fate.
At least Janet thought so.
Duke Renbird was indifferent though he was the nicest person Janet had ever met.
He didn’t hit her, and he didn’t sell herself for anything. He didn't even force her to do anything. He fed Janet because she was hungry, and he gave her a comfortable place to sleep though he didn’t ask for anything.
When she said she had nowhere to go, Duke Renbird allowed her to stay at his castle. If it was an aristocrat, it was normal for them to live without knowing how many freeloaders were in their family anyway, but Janet was moved by that. She had never been invited before.
After a day or two passed and she couldn't recall her life away from Renbird, she asked to work as a maid.
Duke Renbird indifferently allowed her this time, too.
“Still, you’re a noble, will it be okay?”
“Since I am a noble, I think there are many things I can do for you.”
“Yes, that’s right. I think you'll work for Renbird's honor.”
At the time, discipline in Renbird’s Castle was a mess.
Duke Renbird, who did not like to deal with people, neglected life in his castle to the level. He only knew how to enjoy luxury, and the Duchess did not know how to look after the castle.
Mrs. Janet, with her loyalty alone, took them one by one.
Even if it was something she hadn't done before, she was motivated, so there was nothing she couldn't do. In this way, she established herself as an indispensable person in the Renbird’s castle. However, everyone around Duke Renbird was a problem.
Especially the Duchess.
She was from an equally humble family though one became the Duchess and the other became the maid, just because of greed. It was absurd. Nevertheless, she tried to assist Duchy Renbird so that she could become a duchess befitting the Duchy.
As time passed, only ill feelings accumulated between the two, and then Kalcion was born.
The Duchess only showed interest in her child at first, but it soon waned. Nannies were also human beings, so there were times when they got tired of raising children. Whenever that happened, Janet stuck by Kalcion’s side instead.
The only blood relative of Duke Renbird. The next Duke who would shine befitting this Renbird’s honor… she thought it was worth giving her all.
Even the Duchess did not like to have her own sparkle fall into the hands of others. She even tried to keep Janet out of the way.
No matter how sincerely she served him, Janet could not win because it was not her own child. She was always nervous about what would happen if the Duchess turned bad though, unlike Janet's worries, Kalcion grew up as Duke Renbird.
All that was left was to find the most suitable match for him, but it started to distort from there.
Why was Kalcion’s partner, who had been in a marriage discussion with the Marquisate Thiolan’s Roseline, fell to Irell, an insignificant woman from a humble family, like the previous Duchess? There was nothing to like about her background, her behavior, her appearance… She didn't like it.
The engagement hadn't been confirmed yet, so she hoped that it wouldn't come through.
Surprisingly, it actually happened.
Irell began to turn a blind eye to the Capital's social scene, and then, step by step, she embarked on a path of self-destruction.
Janet just watched it with cold eyes as long as it did not defame the duchy.
The moment she found out that Irell was using the passage used by the previous duchess for a tryst with her lover, she wanted to kill her with her own hands. Still, it was Kalcion's will to bring Irell in. She couldn't go against his wishes.
Nonetheless, an opportunity came from an unexpected place.
Irell was gutsy enough. The night before the engagement, she dragged her lover into her room even though she knew very well that Janet was in the room next to her.
She must have been desperate. The fact that she was pregnant was enough to make her go crazy, but tomorrow was her engagement ceremony. While Janet didn’t know who the lover was, she seemed to be saying, ‘Now that I have a child, please take responsibility.’
However, it was impossible for a human being who had done such a thing to be responsible.
Irell's wailing began with the cold words, ‘It's your body, so you have to take care of it.’ When she put a knife to her wrist and threatened to die, a murmur came saying, ‘That’s okay,’ and shrill screams rang out. ‘Why, you said you were going to die?’
When she heard about death, Janet opened her door.
“Aha? The head maid was here.”
Janet, a lower noble, did not recognize the Crown Prince. She just guessed from the way he spoke and dressed that he was no ordinary person.
The man patted her on the shoulder and passed by as if nothing had happened.
‘You should lock the door well when you sleep, huh?'
Feeling that if she didn't listen to the man, she would lose her head immediately as she couldn't move. In the meantime, the man eventually exited through Janet's room, leaving two of them. Irell, clutching her bleeding wrist, looked at Janet. In front of her was a bloody knife held by the man.
She couldn't even escape Irell’s despairing eyes.
What should I do? Now what?
Irell, who had become unable to judge, pleaded with her eyes. Janet looked back and forth between Irell and the bloody knife before taking a step back from her door.
span style="color: #999999;">“I'll tell His Excellency.”
span style="color: #999999;">“Please!”
span style="color: #999999;">“If it were me, I'd rather die than live with that kind of shame.”
And she closed the door.
Janet did not take her back from the door as she listened to her sobbing over and over again throughout the night. In the end, Irell made the choice to end her own life. Even when her cries stopped, Janet wouldn't open the door.
She burrowed into the bed and closed her eyes.
* * *
After Mrs. Janet's confession, what remained in the hall was the breathing of people who could not hide their surprise.
Was it on purpose? Kalcion listened to Janet's story in the hall where the servants and maids came and went. Mrs. Janet's reputation plummeted to the ground, but on the contrary, everyone was no longer unaware of the whole affair.
Kalcion delivered the sentence.
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